


The Cracked Rose

by augustrose



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Prodigal Son (TV 2019), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Adoptive Mom Liz, Alternate Universe, Dark Tony Stark, Elijah has a psychology degree, F/F, F/M, Gen, MC is an FBI agent, Minor Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, She is also bisexual, Suicide mentions, Tony Stark is not a good person, serial killer tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:29:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27248071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/augustrose/pseuds/augustrose
Summary: Tony Stark is a serial killer, self-named 'Iron Man', he had a daughter with Ophelia Morningstar, who died of mysterious circumstances after the birth of Frankie Pallas Stark.  Tony was such an upstanding man that the death was written off and he was allowed to take care of his daughter with the help of his friend. From a young age, Frankie always presented as a bright young girl, but she was also more observant than most. Especially when it came to her father. The Avengers was a team that was in charge of finding important serial killers and taking them in, and after hearing her father complain about them, Frankie called the hotline at 10, and Natasha Romanoff came to their house in California. Before Tony had the chance to kill her, Frankie warned her, and Tony was taken into custody. Feeling as if the child should not be punished for being his daughter, Natasha gave her to Elizabeth Forbes, who could raise the young girl. And so she did, and the trauma became apparent in later years, but she left Mystic Falls at 18 to pursue the FBI. Now, she has come back to her adoptive home and found the town in chaos, and discovers the secrets as well as faces her own demons.
Relationships: Damon Salvatore/Original Female Character(s), Elijah Mikaelson/Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Rebekah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. The Silent Truth

_My name is Frankie Pallas Stark, now Morningstar. And I am the daughter of Iron Man, yes, the Iron Man. Famed Serial Killer in California, whose victims spread across states and was suspected of more murders in different countries. Yes, my father is Tony Stark. No, I am not him._

That is what she wishes she could tell people when they learn the truth of her past. Of course, not many people know, Natasha, assured her at a young age that only people who needed to know would know. But people came to their own conclusions if they looked hard enough at her past. 

After all, she was the girl who turned her own father in for being a serial killer. But she wasn't him. He left her with trauma for years, severe Daddy issues, PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and she almost didn't get into the academy because of him. She worked hard to make sure that no one looked at her and saw her father. She went to therapy, she took her medication, she slept in restraints, she took all the precautions. Plus, she hadn't spoken to her father since she was 15, and had burned every letter he had sent her and changed addresses and phone numbers every time he found her. 

He was a mad man, a narcissist, a psychopath, and he thought he would never be caught. Well, he hadn't taken into account the fact that his own child would turn on him. His own prodigy so to speak.

Elizabeth Forbes was her adoptive mother as soon as Natasha took her away from her father as he was paraded away from her in body restraints by Steve Rogers and Clint Barton, both of whom were somewhat unemotional to her. She remembered the plane ride to Virginia, the turbulence, Natasha telling her that nothing and no one could hurt her now, most especially her father. 

The last thing that she heard about said father was that he had been transferred to a mental facility in North Carolina from California after he had lost his patience and killed another patient. 

But that had been 5 years ago, so she wasn't exactly itching to learn more about her psychopath of a father. She was 23 now and coming back to Mystic Falls to help her adoptive mother with her adoptive younger sister, who was in high school now. 

She knew the legends about Mystic Falls, about the work that Liz brought home, about the vervain in her drinks. She just didn't want anything to do with them unless she absolutely had a reason to pick up a stake. 

Along with being a serial killer's daughter, she was also a Mutant. It had been a recessive gene in her mother's family, and she started showing signs shortly after she had stopped visiting her father. One time she had hit rock bottom, she had taken too many of her sleeping pills and woke up in the hospital, the doctors telling her that she should be dead as when her heart had completely stopped for fifteen minutes after Liz found her and then started again all on its own. It was a miracle, but in fact, it was no miracle. 

That first experience would be the first of strange happenings for the Forbes, she could still hear Bill pestering her about if she ate or drank anything beforehand that looked like blood and Liz pulling him away and explaining that she did still have a heartbeat, she wasn't a vampire. Then came the table incident, she had lost her normally well-controlled temper when Bill tried to take away her soccer experiences, and she in turn bent every mental object around her in anger, sending some flying off the wall in a rage.

After contacting Natasha, she explained to Bill and Liz that there would need to be more tests to be done, but it was correct in the assumption that Frankie was a mutant. So she focused on her studies, and sports, she got into a college at 16 and studied psychology and anthropology from home in Mystic Falls. At 18, she got into the academy and rose to the ranks as a profiler. 

Now, she was returning to Mystic Falls on the plane that wouldn't take very long from Washington, and she hoped that maybe with the years past, maybe this was a time where things could be different for her.


	2. The Dwindling Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this starts at the beginning of 162 candles and will hop around frequently

Liz put the phone down after she said for them to send Damon into her office. "Mr. Salvatore, come on it. Could you get the door for me?"

"Sure," Damon said and closed the door behind him.

"I understand from Mrs. Lockwood that your Uncle is out of town." She said as he set the box in front of her and sat down in the chair across from her.

"Yes, but I did speak with Zach. He filled me in and asked if I could bring this to you. That's all we have at the moment, I do hope that it is enough." 

She peered into the box and a shocked glance as she found the vervain in it.

"It's a small circle...Founding families, a few city officials. And my deputies."

"Are we getting any closer? To finding the vampire."

"I think our facts are wrong. We've always believed that vampires can only come out at night. What if that's changed?"

"Is that even possible?" 

"We've exhausted every other option. We have to consider the vampire may be walking around during the day. Right in front of us." Liz said, sighing before her phone lit up with a small ding.

"Sorry about that." She said after responding to the message.

"No worries. I will do anything I can do to help find them." Damon said before pausing and looking over her features as he saw the concern cross her face for a moment. "Is that Caroline?"

"No, it is my adoptive daughter. She is coming to stay in town, she recently got an apartment near here and will be commuting to Richmond for work. She just texted that her plane just landed. She's going to catch a cab to her new apartment." 

"I wasn't aware that you had another daughter." He said, his eyebrows bunched together.

"Only a few people do. She has not had an easy past, and if we're being honest, I'm not sure her coming back would be a good idea." She said, glancing at the door and leaning her arms on the desk. "Can you keep this conversation between us, Mr. Salvatore?"

"Of course, Sheriff. Anything."

"Frankie is the daughter of a famed serial killer from California. She turned him in when she was 10 and has spent the past decade or so dealing with the trauma of it. The people who captured him placed her with me soon after, and she grew up here until she was accepted into the FBI academy at 18. She is a bright girl, somewhat of a genius. But 5 years ago, her father was moved to a facility in North Carolina, and well, she applied to the academy after receiving the news. I'm worried that when she comes back, he'll find a way to reach out to her again with an offer she couldn't refuse to see him again." The sheriff said seriously.

"Well, if there is anything I could do to help make the transition back here easier, just let me know."

"Actually, do you think that I could introduce you to her? Maybe you show her around a bit, be a friend." 

"I'm not exactly the friend type but I will try. How old is she?"

"She is 23 now. She'll be commuting a two-hour drive to the Quantico office for the FBI as she transferred. But remember, Damon, only need to know are aware of who her father is. As far as anyone outside of this room is concerned, she is my other daughter." Her voice sent a chill down Damon's spine, even for a human, but he knew that look. The desire to protect one's family.

"Understood, Sheriff." He said with a smile and gracefully walked out of the door, leaving Sheriff debating on whether she made the right decision asking Damon to do this. Guess she would find out soon enough.

\------------------------------------------------------

Caroline was the first face to greet her after she stepped out of the airport after getting her bags. 

She had to practically drop the bags to catch the blonde girl. "Oh my god, Frankie. It's been what, 5 years? So you won't guess what happened recently." She rambled on, causing Frankie to laugh at her adoptive sister's antics. 

After placing her things in the trunk, she got in the passenger seat as Caroline began the drive from the airport to her new apartment in Mystic Falls.

"So when is your car getting here?"

"Tomorrow, don't worry, but I doubt I'd have to use it much because everything is pretty much in walking distance here." She said, rolling down the window and closing her eyes as she laid back against the seat.

"Mom's worried about you." Caroline finally said after an hour had passed of her filling her in about Elena losing her parents, the new people in town, among other things. 

"Why this time?" Frankie said in a dead tone.

"You know why. She's not sure you being back here will be good for you. After all, your dad is-"

"Over 5 hours away in Morganton. He's in a mental institution, Caroline. Yeah, it's less than when he was in California, but he's far enough away where I don't have to worry about what will happen if he gets out like I did when I was a kid. My dad killed over 25 people, he's never getting out." She said seriously.

"Therapy's really helping?" Caroline questioned, a caring tone in her voice for once instead of being self-absorbed.

"It is. I promise you." She said before pausing to tease her younger sister. "Careful, Caroline, otherwise people may think that you care about others."

"Yeah, and that would be awful." She replied with a laugh. 

But the return home was not what she expected at all.


	3. Darkest Light

The rest of the drive was spent in silence and whatever pop station that Caroline had on until they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment.

"Fancy," Caroline commented, causing a laugh to emerge from her older sister's throat.

"Not really, the inside is a little small but it's the closest to town that I really liked. Plus, the drive from here to the office in Quantico won't be all bad." She spoke as Caroline turned the car off and got out, helping Frankie get her things from the trunk. It wasn't exactly all that much in the things that she didn't ship when she packed up her things in D.C. She hated the fact that even now, with the salary of one of the best agents in her office, she had to use the money she inherited from her father when he was sent away, the company he had inherited from his parents had been given to the Avengers, with Dr. Banner running it now until she decided if she wanted anything to do with it, but the fortune he had gone to her. She hated and loved it at the same time. 

"What are you doing tonight?" Caroline asked as they carried the bags and a couple of suitcases into the apartment that could easily be called a loft or flat. Little small her ass, Caroline said to herself. The apartment was a little spacious, and that was including the furniture that she and Caroline had picked out over the phone, the wonders of Skype. But she could see why her sister liked it. It definitely suited her, even if some of the stuff was a little dark.

"Other than putting all of this away and then searching for some new shoe outlets, not much. I need to find some running shoes so I don't wear down any more boots on a foot chase." She said, tossing the suitcases that held clothes and books on her bed.

"Want to go to a party tonight? It's a friend's birthday at the Grill." Caroline said, giving her sister the puppy-dog eyes as she started to hang things in the closet space.

"Sorry, Care. Maybe another night, but I want to get settled in before I really get out there. Plus, crowds aren't exactly my biggest fans." She said seriously and Caroline nodded in understanding. There was a lot she didn't understand about her sister, and she couldn't imagine if her own father was a serial killer and then years later finding out that she had abilities. It could not have been easy but she was happy to have an older sister, even if that sister came with her own baggage.

"Alright, well I have to go, I'll text you later." She said with a smile and exited the apartment after Frankie waved her goodbye.

"Please don't get too drunk."

"No promises!" And with that and closing of a door, Frankie was left alone in the spacious apartment. Knowing that she met with the Unit Chief of the unit she would be working with upon her transfer tomorrow, she decided to go ahead and unpack everything. Plus, she had a feeling she would not be able to keep avoiding her family as well as Mystic Falls forever, even if she could claim the working all the time. 

Speaking of, she had to check in with Natasha. Her and the redhead had grown closer after she had become a teenager and started excelling in school and learned more about her father. The Avengers, despite them having taken her father into custody, was very much like a second family to her, the Forbes family being the first, and they had participated in pretty much every big moment of her life. They were good people.

But Natasha was probably the most worried about her being back in Virginia, as that made her a few hours closer to her father and more likely he would attempt to reach out. The redhead was like the combination of a mother and a sister to Frankie, and she appreciated that she could admit that the redhead could be rather protective. She could tell Natasha pretty much anything, because well, she knew everything about her. 

Shaking her head before the past could overwhelm her mind, she sent a text to Natasha telling her that she had just gotten into her apartment. A few minutes later, the video-chat call came through on the computer as she was setting things up.

"Hey, Nat," Frankie said with a smile as she took the computer and sat it on the bed with her.

"Hey, Franks. I like the new room. Look, I know that this is your decision but I'm gonna swing by in a couple of weeks and just make sure of some things, alright. I'm not hovering kid, you know I don't do that. But the guys are worried. When you heard where your father had been moved, you joined the FBI. You haven't been this close since he was arrested." Natasha said as Frankie moved to unpack the books.

Most of them were gifts from the Avengers and Liz after she had started disappearing into the books once her father had been brought up in conversation. And then, she started to enjoy them more.

"I know you guys are worried. But I'm fine, Nat. I really am. He's five, six hours away. He doesn't know where I've moved, he is unaware of where I am now. Other than news clippings of when I make an arrest that is notable of the public interest or my accomplishments in school, that is the only time he ever gets close to me. Plus, now that I haven't spoken to him in years, almost a decade, most of the wounds have healed. There will always be things wrong with me and that is why I'm constantly in therapy. Trust me, I've taken all the precautions here." She told her seriously, turning back to the computer.

"I know, Franks. Just like we've taught you. But Fury worries. So does everyone else. I'm coming by, it won't be long and it's just an extra precaution." She said before the two of them said their goodbyes, no gushy emotive things. Then, Frankie let herself fall back against the bed and stare at the ceiling as she contemplated the relationship with her father.

She hadn't seen him since she was 15 and had gotten into college, after that, she officially cut off her contact with him. He was angry, he was a narcissist, who was also a psychopath, who lost his grasp on his last remaining victim. His own daughter. But his final words to her were the ones that stuck with her. 

"I've created a monster in you, my dear Frankie. You're just like me. Doesn't matter how far you go, we'll always be the same."


	4. Isle of Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any feedback and kudos would be welcome

The next morning she got a call from Caroline, thanking her for coming to take care of her after Matt took her home drunk. Or at least as close to a thank you that Caroline would say. Although in the same breath, Caroline complained about her chasing Matt out of the door so she could take care of her. Frankie at least was grateful for the tone of sincerity that she got from her mostly self-absorbed adoptive sister.

She drove to Quantico the day after and met with the Unit Chief, who did know about her past given his own security clearance, and she recognized him. He was one of the officers with SHIELD that helped the Avengers arrest and build evidence against her father so she would not have to testify. "Agent Mackenzie, I wasn't aware that you were the Unit Chief here." 

As far as she knew, he was still with SHIELD. "Did Natasha send you to supervise me?"

"No, although, I was surprised myself when I got your resume. Did not think that I would be seeing you again." He said but shook her hand nonetheless. He gestured to the seat across from the desk and she did sit down.

"I must say, though, I am glad to see that you have grown into quite an incredible young woman, despite your father being, well-"

"The Iron Man." She ended and so the actual interview began. And it went well, it might have been because she knew him or just being able to get along with others well, even if they did know about her past and didn't judge her for it. She had that effect on people, even without them knowing what she could do, the Mutant abilities that she rarely used now, either they loved to talk to her or avoided her. 

"Well, Agent Morningstar. You are indeed well-qualified and seem to know your way around things. I think that the paperwork will be done by today and you will officially be an agent here. Your job will simply be assisting with other cases, assisting other departments with their cases, and giving the profiles for their suspects after reviewing their files, but you will have to travel with us on cases where we would need your insight." He warned her and she understood the hidden meaning. There would be some cases that would require her to use her own experience as well as what she's learned about her father to help them catch the killers.

"I understand, there's a reason why I still do therapy." She said in a joking tone.

"You're a very charismatic woman, Agent Morningstar. But I have to ask, I read your file, you started college right before you turned 16, and you applied for the academy at 18, you're a bright woman, why did you choose to put your talent into being an agent?"

"After I turned my father in, I couldn't make things right with the families of the people that he killed. I thought that I didn't have a right to live after what my father did, destroying families, but I thought, maybe I could make things right in the future. Maybe I could help stop people like him before there are too many lives lost. Maybe I could make a difference without being afraid of him." She said seriously with a kind smile.

It was at this moment that he realized how much that the girl he had met when he was first assigned to her case had changed, how Natasha had not left her side as she told her what happened, how years of contemplation and growth had changed her, she wasn't her father. That was for damn sure.

\----------------------------------------

When she came to Mystic Falls after getting settled into the office, she had wished it was under better circumstances. Liz and Bill had been teaching her about vampires since she was young, as well as Natasha and the Avengers telling her upon being questioned the encounters that they had with them. Some good, some bad. So she wasn't really fazed by them, but she refused to believe all vampires were evil like Bill did. It was something that she and her adoptive mother always kind of butted heads about.

But she couldn't deny that she knew that Logan Fell, that this vampire was dangerous and evil. She didn't like using her gifts in front of others, but for this, she would make an exception. Luckily for her, she couldn't die, especially if Logan killed her. 

When she walked into the school, Liz waved her over and point her towards the direction of Logan to who Liz told her was Stefan Salvatore, Elena's boyfriend, or so she thought.

She nodded and whispered for Liz to get ready. And then she headed over to the boys.

"Mr. Salvatore, may I borrow Mr. Fell from you for a minute?" She asked, flashing her badge at both of them as well as a disarming kind smile. Once Stefan backed off, she nodded to him before grabbing Logan and escorting him into a locked hallway, knowing that she was being watched by Stefan. But at this point, she didn't care.

She quickly shoved Logan off of her before raising an eyebrow as they stood off at different ends of the hallway.

"Well, well, isn't it little Ms. Morningstar, back from D.C. The last time I heard about you was when you ran to the academy when your dear papa was transferred to North Carolina."

"It's Agent Morningstar, Logan. Don't try to charm me, I won't hesitate to shoot you." She said, her hand on her gun.

"You won't shoot me in a school, would you?"

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I don't know ways to make you suffer." She said with a sickeningly sweet smile. And she slowly lifted her hand before concentrating and shifted her hand, causing him to grasp his jaw in pain. "Metal cavities, correct? Such an unfortunate thing for you, even as a vampire. It might not kill you, but it should send a message." She said before causing the metal tooth to fragment and be removed from the mouth. She pulled it out and showed the pieces to him before making another hand movement and this time, they embedded in his chest, causing him to stumble back.

"If you're still here by midnight, you won't get another chance. So stay away, or you will be killed. Have a nice night." She said with a smile before using her powers to hit him in the face hard enough with his watch and walk out. She could feel Stefan's eyes on her as she exited the building and inhaled the cool air.


	5. Life After You

She should have expected it, she knew that she was being watched but her intuition told her that her secret could be trusted. Even if he was exposed to her worse side that was really reserved for the criminals she chased. But it would have to be resolved sooner rather than later.

So she turned around when she heard the door close again behind her, suspecting that it was either him or Logan coming back for more. She was ready for a fight. But she relaxed when she saw Stefan.

"I assume you saw all that."

"I did. My brother had told me that your mom asked him to help you get adjusted back here when you weren't working. Although, I think I may have beat him to meeting you." He said before offering his hand in a peace offering. "Stefan Salvatore."

After a moment, she took it, returning it with a smile. "Frankie Morningstar."

"It's nice to meet you, Frankie. Or would you prefer Agent Morningstar?" He questioned.

"Frankie's fine when I'm not on the job." She said as she rolled her shoulders back. 

"So, I'm sure that Liz told your brother if she asked him to keep an eye on me, but did he tell you?" She asked him after a few moments passed between them.

"He mentioned that you had a colorful past, yes." He said, causing a laugh to rise from her.

"Colorful is a bland word for my childhood, but he would be correct. This isn't the information that I give out freely, but my father was a serial killer. The Iron Man, to be exact." She said with a grimace. 

After it stunned him into silence, she looked over at him. "If it helps, I was 10 when I called the Avengers to take him down, and I would gladly do it again. I'm not my father, I never knew my mother, and the Avengers and the Forbes are really the only families I've had." She said, a charming smile taking across her face.

"Oh, I wasn't doubting that. Although it is nice to know." Stefan said before looking over at her. "My brother and I are vampires, while we are unveiling secrets, he's a bit of a dick, and your mom doesn't know so let's keep it that way." He said and she nodded in agreement.

"You keep my secret, I keep yours? Deal." She said before sighing.

"The reason my mom is worried about me being back here. It's the first time that I've been back in 5 years, since I took off to the Academy, and my father was moved from prison in California to a mental institution in North Carolina." She said, crossing her arms and looking over at him. 

"Have you spoken to him?"

"Not since I was 15. I was allowed yearly visits, and the last time I spoke to him, I told him I was going to college and would not be continuing the contact any further. He didn't react well." She said with a bitter laugh. 

"Because he no longer had control over you," Stefan replied, causing her to shoot a confused glance his way.

"I'm over a hundred years old, I have a couple of degrees." He said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders, causing her to laugh. 

"I guess so." She said before watching as Elena saw her and rushed toward her, enveloping her in a hug.

"Frankie! I didn't know you were back in town." She said before looking over at Stefan. "It's so good to see you. And I'll catch up with you later, but do you mind if I steal Stefan for a few?"

"No problem, I've got a situation of my own to deal with." She said, offering a smile and leaving the two of them by themselves.

\----------------------------------------

Later that night, Stefan took her along when Logan took her sister, and it was weirdly fun to move at vampire speed. And more fun shooting Logan with Damon. She had to refrain from killing him so Damon could question him, but when he started bargaining with him about something she didn't understand, she moved the gun with the wooden bullets from his hand with her own powers and shot him in the heart.

She knew that she pissed him off but she didn't like people messing with her family. It didn't matter who they were.

"I'll walk home." She said after he glared at her, although she knew the glare very well. It was the same one she recognized from her father when she told him that she was stopping all communication. The promise of vengeance. 


	6. Forgotten Night

_"Musing through memories, Losing my grip in the grey, numbing the senses, I feel you slipping away." - Still Here,_ Digital Daggers

The images flashed through her head again, having forgotten to take her medication the night before. 

That was a mistake, clearly as she ended up having her night terrors again and without her medication, she tended to be violent in her sleep. Luckily for her, Natasha had made sure that she had restraints that she couldn't break out of and a mouthguard her teeth couldn't fracture. 

The memories flooded her mind during the night, the ones that she didn't have enough blocks in the world to defend herself against, caused her heart to beat so loud and fast that if a vampire were listening, they would think that she was having a heart attack while she was sleeping.

But she wasn't focused on the possibilities right now, she couldn't control her dreams. 

The face in her dreams was a face she tried her hardest to forget, but the memories chased her. They were like hellhounds in the way they haunted her, her father's face, the things he'd whisper to her. The way people looked at her when they pulled him away from her, a devolving madman. 

When she awoke in the morning, it was to a loud banging at her door that she could only distinguish as knocking as she unlocked her restraints and set the mouthguard back in the container, and set it inside the bedside table drawer. She slowly got out of the bed, shaking her head as she pulled out a pair of clean joggers and a dark green sweater as she came towards the door and opened it to reveal both Damon and Stefan. 

"May we come in, Frankie?" The nicer one that she had identified as Stefan asked and she nodded and invited them inside.

"What do you want?" She asked, trying not to look at Damon as his temperament reminded her too much of her father.

\-----------------------------------------

 _"Outrunning karma, that boy, he's such a charmer, all the bugs and their larva follow him out of Colorado, ten-dozen hearts in a bag, their bodies lying, he'll drag them down to Colorado, a modern desperado." - Outrunning Karma,_ Alex Benjamin

"You want me to chaperone a high school dance?" She asked, her voice incredulous as she looked at them and found that they were serious.

"I don't do well with crowds or people for that matter. Why do you want my help?" She questioned Stefan but ended up locking eyes with his brother.

"Because whether or not I like it, we need your help. We saw you with Logan, although you killed him just as he started talking. But there was no way that he was working alone. And the other teammates of his league of just terrible people went after Elena last night, she's okay, Stefan was the hero as always. But we think that whoever they are will make another move tonight at the dance. Stefan and I are both perfectly capable vampires, but it wouldn't hurt to have you around to help." Damon said, which just confused her more so she swiveled her gaze back to Stefan across from her on the couch.

"You're not human, but you're not a vampire either, and in all honesty, you could quickly disarm him and use your abilities to help others," Stefan said to which she rolled her eyes. 

"Using my own words against me, Stefan, well played." She exaggerated before nodding and crossing her arms.

"Okay, I'll ask Caroline to put me down as a chaperone, but I just want to make this clear, I am not going to be bait. And I'll share what else I find after we've dealt with him." She said before looking over at Damon.

"I don't like you, and I'm pretty sure that you don't like me, based on your body language. But you strike me as someone who is extremely stubborn, not to mention narcissistic and ill-tempered, so again, why do you want me to help you? How do I know that you won't just stab me in the back?" She asked him.

"I am," Stefan said seriously, rubbing his hands together. "I'll make sure we'll both watch your back tonight."

Frankie looked between the two of them before laying back against the couch. "What time is this stupid dance?"


	7. Weeping Snake

_"We talked about making it, I'm sorry that you never made it, and it pains me just to hear you have to say it, you knew the game and played it, it kills to know that you have been defeated. I see the wires pulling while you're breathing, you knew you had a reason, it killed you like diseases, I can hear it in your voice while you're speaking. Mr. Know it all, had his reign and his fall, at least that's what his brain is telling all." - Wires,_ The Neighborhood

Frankie felt Damon grab her by the shoulder and the next thing that she knew, she was in the cafeteria and saw the vampire attacking Elena. Thinking on her feet she flicked her wrist and the metal bar came off from the vending machine and went through his stomach as Stefan got to him. 

"Hey, dickhead. Nobody wants to kill you, we just wanna talk." Damon said in the annoyingly grating voice that made her roll her eyes as she stood beside him. 

Even though he was a psychopath, right now she would bet on staying close to him instead of the vampire in front of them not harming her.

Though she could take care of herself, it wouldn't hurt to rely on someone other than herself. At least according to her therapist. 

The vampire then lunged for Elena again after pulling out what she had embedded in his skin, and Damon tossed the take he was carrying to Stefan, who made sure that he wasn't going anywhere this time.

"Your technique could use some work, Morningstar," Damon commented snidely. 

"Shove it, Salvatore." She retorted.

After Stefan sent a look the way that told them to stop arguing, their attention was pulled back to the vampire in front of them.

"Now you feel like talking?" Stefan questioned.

"Screw you." 

Stefan then took the wooden stake and dug it into his stomach deeper.

"The wrong answer." He took a step back and stood in front of him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun," Noah said with a pained smirk.

"What do you want with Elena?" Stefan asked after he shoved the stake in again.

"She looks like Katherine." The vampire spoke, causing Elena, Damon, and Stefan to all look at each other.

"Alright, I'm missing something, which someone needs to fill me in later, but continue," Frankie said with a glare, not liking the feeling of being left out of the loop. But she understood it. She had just gotten into town a couple of weeks ago, she didn't fault the situation. 

Damon took a step towards the vampire and leaned over to him. "Tell me how to get into the tomb."

Again with something else she didn't understand. But that was something else she filed away for further questioning.

After a little bit more torturing, the vampire finally revealed that the key to getting into the tomb lied in Jonathan Gilbert's journal. As well as him refusing to rat out his partners, which resulted in his death.

"So that's what a dead vampire looks like. Now I've seen everything." She said before hearing a rattling of doors behind her and seeing who Damon pointed out as the new history teacher, nodding for him to follow him. 

Once he was dealt with, he and Stefan loaded the body into Damon's car and she took Elena home before heading back to meet with them.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

 _"And she spoke words that would melt in your hands, and she spoke words of wisdom." - Undercover Martyn,_ Two Door Cinema Club

After she was sure that Elena wouldn't get into any more trouble at home, she headed back to talk to the brothers. Heading to the house, she whistled in appreciation as she pulled her car into the driveway. It reminded her of something that she lived in when she moved around with her father for what she thought was work.

Now, she was aware that it was not the case. 

She sat in her car for a few more minutes, the memories haunting her before she finally came out of the trance and got out of her car, slamming the door harder than necessary.

But she made her way to the door, knocking on it as more of the words went through her mind.

_You're the same as I, Frankie. Sooner or later, you'll snap and end up just like me._


	8. Dream Team

_"I've been having a hard time adjusting, I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting. I didn't know if you'd care if I came back, I have a lot of regrets about that. Pulled off the road to the lookout, could've followed my fears all the way down, and maybe I don't quite know what to say, but I'm here in our doorway." - this is me trying_ , Taylor Swift

Frankie was nervous but was less so when Stefan was the one who opened the door instead of his brother. 

"What can we do for the older Forbes?" Damon asked, offering her a drink, to which she accepted as she sat down on the couch. 

"I was serious about what I said earlier, I want to be filled in on what's been going on and what you were grilling that vampire about." She said, looking at the two of them. "I may have been out of town for five years but it wasn't this crazy when I left. Guess you two brought all the vampires out of hiding when you came back."

Stefan and Damon looked at each other in alarm, because that actually hadn't crossed their mind, but it was possible. Especially Damon, who was not, by any means, subtle. But after a moment, they realized that maybe Damon searching for a way to open the tomb had brought some back, but it wasn't all him.

"Basically, the woman who turned the both of us into vampires as well as who Damon here is in love with is in a tomb underneath Fell's Church. The witch who he made a deal with to make sure she didn't die ended up double-crossing him by possessing her descendant, Bonnie, to destroy the necklace that was the key to unlocking the tomb to keep all 27 vampires she saved there. Ever since then, Damon's been trying and failing to find a way to get them out, and now, he finally got an answer. Emily Bennett, the witch who sealed them in, apparently left clues in her grimoire on how to unseal the door, but no one has seen her grimoire in years, even her descendants." Stefan explained as she took a drink of the bourbon. 

"So that's what you were looking for. A spellbook? The vampire said that the location was in Jonathan Gilbert's journal, where is that now?" She said with a raised eyebrow towards them.

"She's smart, I like that," Damon said and looked at Stefan when she tensed slightly.

"Ignore him, I do. We're gonna talk to Elena about it, after all, it was her ancestor's journal. If anyone would have any idea where it is, it would be her family." Stefan answered her question seriously while digging at his brother at the same time, something that made her laugh.

After a moment of contemplation, she nodded and looked over at the two.

"Alright, I'll help." She said, causing a look of confusion from Damon. "I don't think that your brother would help you without something, that something being that when you open the tomb, you and your vampire lover leave town. And I'm all for getting him out and away from my sister, I don't necessarily like you. So I'm in." She said with a smirk that threatened to send a shiver down Damon's spine.

Stefan looked between the two of them before raising his eyebrow and shaking his head.

"You two obviously need to talk before you work together on this. I'll leave you alone, I'm heading to Elena's. Don't kill each other, please." He said before heading out the door.

"Not like I could die anyways." She shouted after him before gesturing for Damon to have a seat as she finished the rest of the glass he had given her earlier. She noticed his stare before chuckling to herself. "Something you want to know, Salvatore?"

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"So you're a mutant. Didn't even think that was an actual thing." He said with a laugh.

"There's more than you realize. I met a couple of other people who were like me both when I was a kid and as an adult in the academy, made me feel like I wasn't as alone as I felt, because I was different. In more than one way." She added before flipping open her pack of cigarettes and using a lighter, raising an eyebrow at his gaze.

"What? It's a coping mechanism and it's not like it's going to kill me." She said with a smile. 

"Explain that to me, you said you can't die. Is that just if you're killed or is it eternal and all that? Does that mean you've tried to kill yourself?" He asked seriously, causing her to stop and look at him with a grim smile. 

"I've done things that I knew would end my life, yes. I never actively tried to kill myself. As well as the whole not being able to die thing, I asked a friend with the Avengers to look at my DNA and the results are in. My cells won't degrade with time and just keep healing, so yeah I'm sticking around for quite a while." She said with a laugh. 

"So you're actually immortal. Gotta say that's pretty impressive." He said with a smirk.

"Keep it in your pants, Salvatore." She retorted with a smile as she took a breath of nicotine. The two of them elapsed into a time of silence as they contemplated the new information. They weren't best friends, she didn't think it would ever be that close of a relationship with him, but now, they had an understanding, a level of admiring what the other could do, and right now that was all that mattered.

Or that's what she thought until he kissed her.


	9. Cold as Ice

_"Sometimes I'm beaten, sometimes I'm broken, 'cause sometimes this is nothing but smoke, is there a secret? Is there a code? Can we make it better? 'Cause I'm losing hope." - Us,_ James Bay

It was like all of those years of therapy and the lectures about the benefits of letting her guard down were thrown out the window and forgotten. She froze when Damon kissed her and when he pulled back, it was easy for him to see that she was scared.

But in truth, Damon wasn't all bad.

He admired the immortal woman, not out of manipulating her for his benefit like he did her sister, but he could only imagine the horror of growing up with a father who was a serial killer and the trauma that he left her with. With anyone else, it may have crushed them under the weight, but not her.

She was an incredibly strong woman to take his legacy of darkness and turn it into a life of helping people.

"I'm sorry, Frankie. I didn't mean to scare you." Damon said the first time a look of regret took over his face since she met him.

But she had to remember that he was good at faking emotion, no matter how genuine his emotions seemed to be. It would explain how he earned the trust of her adoptive mother so easily, that and being a founding family member.

"I think I need to go, plus aren't you getting ready for your vampire girlfriend to come home?" Frankie asked, her tone of voice hard but no matter how hard she tried to pull her walls back up, he could see the fear that was still running through her eyes.

"Wait, Frankie." He tried to talk to her, but somehow, she managed to fast walk, use her powers to open and close the door, locking it behind her and she got in her car and drove away before he could stop her.

He could hear the screeching of tires on the driveway and sighed as he decided it was time to do a little research on the Iron Man so he could figure out what spooked her so badly.

\-----------------------

When Stefan came home from Elena's, making sure that she was alright from tonight's events, he found Damon going through the library and turning back to the lit-up computer in front of him.

"What did you do or find out?" Stefan asked, his voice exasperated as the lack of Frankie worried him.

"I'm trying to find out some information on our dear agent's past, but everything about her is locked up tight with more red tape around her than anything our connections in various agencies have ever seen. I spooked her by trying to kiss her and I'm trying to figure out what her dad did to her that spooked her so bad." Damon said, before feeling Stefan's eyes on his back.

"What? I like the kid." He said before raising an eyebrow. "And I certainly don't have to explain myself to you."

"You could have just asked me instead," Stefan responded, grimacing as Damon turned his eyes on him.

"Well, please Stefan, I'm all ears," Damon said, frustrated because Frankie was one of the only people who he cared about how he made her feel. It made no sense to him.

"Tony was suspected of killing Frankie's mother shortly after she was born and Frankie was the person who turned him in when she was 10 years old," Stefan answered simply, causing Damon to curse. "It's also likely that he manipulated her into further visits until she got into college and cut off all contact with him."

"From what I read, the Iron Man strangled most of his victims and used more sophisticated methods on others. Why wasn't he ever convicted of killing her mother?" Damon asked seriously, starting to connect the dots on his actions and the actions of his father.

"Because she died in a car crash," Stefan said, using quotations before running his hand through his hair. "I suggest that if you want her to work with us, try talking to her instead of being an impulsive dick." He said before rolling his eyes.

"I'm going to bed, you fix what you did before she tells someone protective as hell and they come and kick your ass," Stefan said, making Damon freeze.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Frankie may have mentioned that Natasha Romanoff would be coming to visit her this week." He said with a smirk.

"Crap." Damon realized, knowing that if Natasha was already there, even he wouldn't be able to win a fight with the Black Widow.


	10. Unauthorized Magic

_"Dark as midnight, six-pack Coors light, you don't look the same, past my bedtime, blue and red lights, come take you away." - DNA,_ Lia Marie Johnson

Damon used his car, not wanting to spook the agent any more than he already had that night.

But he froze when he got to her loft address and realized that there was a car out of place in the parking lot, that wasn't there when they visited a couple of nights ago. Under regular circumstances, he would brush it off as another loft renter but considering that his own vampire eyes caught the SHIELD logo on the driver side door, he could only conclude that Natasha was already there and ready to kick his ass.

But it couldn't hurt to try.

So he exited and locked his car and used his speed to get to her loft door, knocking gently to not startle her unnecessarily.

It wasn't Frankie, though, who answered the door. It was a redhead whose piercing green eyes he would recognize anywhere, and he found himself trying not to shrink away from the Black Widow's gaze.

"You must Damon." She said, kindly but he could hear the dangerous tone lacing her words, she didn't like him already.

"I am." He responded, hesitantly, almost expect her to put a bullet in his heart right then and there.

"If you're looking for Frankie, I'm afraid she is sleeping, and probably won't be up until around 10," Natasha said, that sweet but threatening smile on her face and Damon could feel a shiver creeping up his spine. "Now, I believe we have two options here, Mr. Salvatore, really three. 1, you leave and don't come back until Frankie is ready to speak to you. 2, we talk inside or outside about what you did to spook her so badly. 3, I shoot you right here and now." 

Damon normally didn't feel a need to explain himself, especially when others were demanding it. He normally wouldn't even give his brother a straight answer, but somehow the mutant had gotten under his skin for whatever reason.

"We can talk inside if you're sure we won't wake Frankie." He finally answered, repressing another shudder when Natasha gave him a smirk and raised an eyebrow when he came right in without needing an invitation, proving her suspicion about Frankie inviting him into her home.

Which made her even more suspicious of the raven-haired vampire. How did he get so close to Frankie when her instincts told her to run?

She made herself comfortable on the couch after closing and locking the door behind him, staring a hole in him until he was again trying not to shrink under her gaze. And what unnerved him was that she was human and he was terrified of her, she was enhanced and an experienced spy and assassin, but she was human. And he was terrified of her.

"I suggest you start talking before I change my mind." She drawled out slowly, catching his attention.

"I'm a vampire, and we met through her younger sister when she came back and we were trying to protect Elena from a rogue vampire. She helped us and agreed to help us get into the tomb under Fell's Church as long as Caroline was safe. We didn't like each other much. She came over tonight so we could work out our issues if we want to work together without problems and I kissed her. She left before I could explain or apologize correctly." Damon summarized, truthfully, even though she was with SHIELD, he could see Natasha was protective of Frankie. He knew that if she deemed him a threat to Frankie, there was a chance that she would kill him.

"That would explain why she was spooked." She muttered to herself, knowing that Damon would hear her.

"I'm assuming you know about her father?" She questioned him, to which he responded with a nod.

"Then you know that she turned him in when she was ten years old. She saved my life in doing so." Natasha said seriously. "But Stark left her with a lot of psychological wounds, one of those being the aversion to serious relationships, and when they do happen, it scares the hell out of her. She doesn't like relying on people, because the last person she relied on, her father, well he turned out to be a monster who in truth, probably would have killed her for turning him in." Natasha said with a grimace at the memory, glad that they got her out of her father's clutches but wished that they could have found them sooner.

"She doesn't get close to people for a reason Damon, you kissing her probably brought up a lot of things she would rather ignore. So in the meantime, let her have time to process this and then approach a conversation with her. If you aren't looking to chase her away, then a forced confrontation is the worse way to go about trying to talk to her. Give her time and she'll talk to you when she's ready." She said to which he nodded and left the way he came, leaving Natasha mulling over whether she made the right choice.


End file.
